The present invention relates to a graphic image displaying system for retrieval and display of data composed of attribute information and graphic information respectively formed into a hierarchical structure and particularly to a user interface for use in the overlapping display of graphic attribute information in such a system.
According to the prior art, a graphic information retrieving and displaying system (as disclosed, for example, in the Official Gazettes on Japanese Patent Application Laid Open, No. 126071-1988 (Showa 63), No. 126072-1988 (Showa 63), No. 227182-1989 (Heisei 1), and No. 258183-1989 (Heisei 1)) usually displays a pre-ordered graphic attribute information necessary for the particular application program in overlapping on a base layer (a blank map), which does not show any attribute information at all, in case any graphic attribute information is to be put on display in overlapping. Thus, the overlapping display is achieved when the user gives instructions for the display of graphic attribute information by specifying a particular geographical point on the display screen or by turning ON an appropriate switch provided on the display screen in correspondence with the particular graphic attribute information. That is to say, a display switch block is provided on the outside of a graphic image display block on the display screen, with switches provided on the display switch block in a number corresponding to the items of the graphic attribute information, as shown in FIG. 23, so that the system displays the graphic attribute information for which the switch has thus been turned ON in overlapping on the graphic image display block. In case the graphic information contains many items of graphic attribute information, the number of items of such graphic attribute information will be extremely large in total. This will be true, for example, in case a map information system is in need of map attribute information indicating various areas by the statutory land use classification, which establishes such categories as a first type exclusive housing area, a second type exclusive housing area, an exclusive housing area, an area including any adjacent commercial area, a commercial area, a semi-industrial area, a special industrial area, and so forth, as well as attribute information indicating the types of construction of buildings, such as wooden structures, concrete structures, and ferro-concrete structures, and attribute information indicating the height or number of stories of buildings, such as one story, two stories, and three stories, and any other attribute information necessary for the use of a map.
As the types of graphic attribute information to be put on display are increased in the manner described above, also the number of switches for indicating the display of graphic attribute information in overlapping will increase. For this reason, it will be difficult to accommodate and display a large number of switches, in addition to graphic images, in the limited area of the display screen. In other words, it will be very difficult to materialize a user interface for displaying a plural number of items in overlapping on the display screen because of the limitations experienced in the layout on the system operating screen. Moreover, the state of the AND display used in the overlapping display presents difficulty to the user of such a system in intuitively understanding the display, and, in effect, the feel in the operation of the system will be unfavorable.